Vannozza dei Cattanei

Vannozza dei Cattanei (13 July 1442-24 November 1518) was the chief mistress of Rodrigo Borgia, the future Pope. She was the mother of Cesare Borgia, Juan Borgia the Younger, Lucrezia Borgia, and Joffre Borgia.

Biography
Vannozza dei Cattanei was born in Mantua in 1442, and she worked as the landlady of several inns in Rome. She had a relationship with Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere before entering into a relationship with Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia during the late 1460s, and she married a church officer in 1473 to keep her close to Borgia in Rome. She bore him four children: Cesare Borgia, Juan Borgia the Younger, Lucrezia Borgia, and Joffre Borgia, and she was forced to live a retired wife after Rodrigo became Pope in 1492. However, she remained influential in the family as its matriarch, and she died in 1518 at the age of 76.